BROOK TROUT ANGLING 



". . . it carries us into the most wild and beautiful scenery of 

 nature; amongst the mountain lakes, and the clear and lovely 

 streams that gush from the higher ranges of elevated hills, or that 

 make their way through the cavities of calcareous strata. How 

 delightful in the early spring, after the dull and tedious time of 

 winter, when the frosts disappear and the sunshine warms the 

 earth and waters, to wander forth by some clear stream, to see 

 the leaf bursting from the purple bud, to scent the odors of the 

 bank perfumed by the violet, and enameled, as it were, with the 

 primrose and the daisy; to wander upon the fresh turf below 

 the shade of trees, whose bright blossoms are filled with the music 

 of the bee; and on the surface of the waters to view the gaudy 

 flies sparkling like animated gems in the sunbeams, whilst the 

 bright and beautiful trout is watching them from below; to hear 

 the twittering of the water-birds, who, alarmed at your approach, 

 rapidly hide themselves beneath the flowers and leaves of the 

 water-lily; and as the season advances, to find all these objects 

 changed for others of the same kind, but better and brighter, till 

 the swallow and the trout contend as it were for the gaudy May 

 fly, and till in pursuing your amusement in the calm and balmy 

 evening, you are serenaded by the songs of the cheerful thrush 

 . . . performing the offices of paternal love, in thickets orna- 

 mented with the rose and woodbine." Days of Fly Fishing, 

 1828. 



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